The present disclosure relates to an embroidery data processing apparatus, an embroidery data processing program recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and a sewing machine. Specifically, the present disclosure relates to an embroidery data processing apparatus, an embroidery data processing program, and a sewing machine for extracting an embroidery pattern to be sewn by a sewing machine.
A conventional sewing machine is capable of sewing an embroidery pattern. In such a sewing machine, a desired embroidery pattern is selected by a user from among a plurality of embroidery patterns stored in a storage device (internal memory) of the sewing machine or in an external memory such as a ROM card or a memory disk. The sewing machine reads embroidery data on a selected embroidery pattern, and then sews the embroidery pattern on a work cloth while an embroidery frame for holding the work cloth is moved and driven by a frame drive mechanism.
There is a demand for efficiently sewing a desired embroidery pattern by such a sewing machine, and there have been proposed a variety of embroidery data creation apparatus or sewing machines having achieved efficient sewing of an embroidery pattern. For example, there has been proposed a sewing machine control apparatus, a sewing machine control method and a sewing machine control program, in which if an embroidery pattern is sewn by a multi-needle type embroidery sewing machine that has a plurality of needle bars, a relationship is defined between each needle bar and a thread supplied to a sewing needle set at each needle bar in consideration of sequential sewing orders, a frequency of thread use or the like so that the thread replacement count during embroidery sewing is reduced, and appropriate action is announced to a user (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-33538, for example).
The conventional sewing machine control apparatus described above is intended to efficiently sew an embroidery pattern selected by a user by reducing the thread replacement count required during sewing the embroidery pattern. However, the conventional apparatus fails to efficiently select an embroidery pattern suitable for sewing with threads possessed by a user, or sewing with threads of specific colors. Therefore, in order to obtain an embroidery pattern under the conditions set forth above, embroidery data on each embroidery pattern must be verified by reading out the data, thereby requiring a large amount of time and effort.